I really think that the old Squire would have made up the difference in
wages to Master Pierson from his own purse; but the offer to go to the
larger school had already been accepted.
As several of the older boys of our own district school had become
somewhat unruly--including Newman Darnley, Alf Batchelder and, I grieve
to say, our cousin Halstead--the impression prevailed that the school
needed a "straightener." Looking about therefore at such short notice,
the school agent was led to hire a master, widely noted as a
disciplinarian, named Nathaniel Brench, who for years had borne the
nickname of "Czar" Brench, owing to his autocratic and cruel methods of
school government.
I remember vividly that morning in November, the first day of school,
when Czar Brench walked into the old schoolhouse, glanced smilingly
round, and laid his package of books and his ruler, a heavy one, on the
master's desk; then, coming forward to the box stove in the middle of
the floor, he warmed his hands at the stovepipe. Such a big man! Six
feet three in his socks, bony, broad-shouldered, with long arms and big
hands.
He wore a rather high-crowned, buff-colored felt hat.
Pages:
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357